Which President Doesn’t Care What People Think?
[Guest post by DRJ]
Despite declining poll numbers in both the Rasmussen (44% approve-54% disapprove) and Gallup (46%-45%) polls, President Obama says he is not concerned:
“This president, who started his term with a 69-percent approval rating in the Gallup track, has confronted more than a year of tough economic times and equally challenging politics — the economy is turning around, by the measure of the Gross Domestic Product, though unemployment still hovers near 10 percent, and now, after more than a year of pressing for healthcare reform, the president is pressing for an “up or down vote” on legislation that the public appears largely wary about.
“That’s okay. Because my job is not being popular,” Obama said last night at a fundraiser for a Democratic senator in St. Louis. “My job is solving problems for the American people. I’ve got a greater responsibility. I’ve got a deeper mission. (Applause.) I’m looking at 10 years from now, will you look back and say that what he did made sense for the American people; not whether tomorrow people are going to be looking and saying, that made him popular..”
I agree there are times Presidents need to worry more about policy than public opinion, although that argument falters in domestic matters where the public is well-equipped to judge for themselves. But how sweet the irony of watching President Obama discount the importance of polls, while supporters like the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen were not as charitable with President Bush when he took a similar position in his final days in office:
“HE DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH….
Chatting with CNN’s Larry King this week, George W. Bush was asked about his weak public support. “I don’t give a darn,” the president said, adding, “Look it, these opinion polls are nothing but a, you know, a shot of yesterday’s news.”
Here’s the thing: I don’t believe him. Or more accurately, I don’t think Bush believes what he’s saying at all.
Think about how many “exit interviews” the president has done in recent weeks. And the reports every cabinet agency has put together to spin the administration’s record in the most positive light possible. And the very existence of the “Bush Legacy Project.” We’re to believe the president has been working overtime to put his best foot forward because he doesn’t care what we think?
All of this will, of course, be punctuated with a prime-time farewell this evening. I’m sure Bush is going to these great lengths because he doesn’t “give a darn” what we think.
Maybe he just loves spending time in front of cameras, answering questions, and reflecting on his service. Yeah, that’s it. Nothing to do with public opinion at all. Perish the thought.”
It didn’t seem to occur to Benen that, regardless of public opinion, President Bush wanted to set the record straight before he left office.
Wikipedia describes Benen as the Washington Monthly’s lead blogger and a frequent guest on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program. I’m searching for his column that explains why President Obama’s love affair with public appearances casts the same doubt on Obama’s motives that Benen attributed to President Bush.
— DRJ
Pat Caddell’s piece in the Washington Post about the utter insanity of ignoring public opinion (linked off Drudge) is amazing–and brutal. It’s pretty close to an intervention. God, I hope a few Washingtonites read it.
elissa (1d8da9) — 3/11/2010 @ 8:48 pmGood catch on that MadCow regular, DRJ.
JD (cc3aa7) — 3/11/2010 @ 8:53 pmHere’s the Washington Post article by Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen that Elissa referred to. Thanks for pointing us to it, Elissa.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/11/2010 @ 8:56 pmYou spend far more time than I do watching MSNBC, JD, but someone has to.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/11/2010 @ 8:58 pmIts a waste of time to reason with a nut.
cubanbob (409ac2) — 3/11/2010 @ 8:59 pm’tis true, DRJ. One would think that after watching it as much as I do, eventually something would begin to wear off on me, and I would start to appreciate it. Ain’t happened yet.
JD (cc3aa7) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:03 pmThe idea that Teh One does not care what people think, does not care about public adoration, is laughable on its face.
JD (cc3aa7) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:15 pmElissa,
I’ve seen several interviews with Caddell and Schoen where they make the same point — that Obama’s committment to health care reform risks ruining the Democratic Party — and I’m convinced they are right. But I’ve also come to the conclusion Obama knows this and doesn’t care.
I think Obama is willing to use bold moves to reinvent the United States into a socialist model, just as Reagan did a bold end run on conventional Cold War theories by working to bring down the Soviet Union. To a certain extent, both Presidents bet their Presidencies and their nation’s future on a bold, game-changing move, and members of the opposing parties feared the consequences of such actions. Reagan’s gamble succeeded. I don’t know if Obama’s gamble will succeed but if it does, I’m convinced it will hurt America.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:17 pmAs such, I want him to fail, DRJ.
JD (cc3aa7) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:21 pmObama is so damn egotistical and immature that I bet he’s much more unhappy about his dropping in the polls than Bush ever was over his ratings. The very fact the former president said recently that he’d like to remain in the background and, in effect, enjoy his privacy is an alien concept to big mouths and show boaters like the current and, for that matter, previous occupants of the Oval Office who’ve been attached to the Democrat Party.
Mark (411533) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:35 pmJust some interesting info about Rasmussen numbers, not all that meaningful but interesting to me.
Obama’s overall approval is a statistical dead-heat with his strong disapproval.
Oama’s strong disapproval is an overwhelming majority of his overall disapproval.
Obama’s strong approval is roughly half of his overall approval.
Obama’s roughly 22 percent strong approval nearly matches the 20 percent of voters who self-declare as liberals.
Interesting statistics, but don’t really mean anything when examined in that fashion.
John Hitchcock (bb234e) — 3/11/2010 @ 9:42 pm–I’ve also come to the conclusion Obama knows this and doesn’t care–
You know, DRJ, I waver on this. Sometimes I think, as you say, Obama is so enamored with the idea of being in the history books as the re-inventor of America that he is willing to take the necessary slings and arrows, possibly be a one termer, and eviscerate his own party to achieve it. Other times I think he is so darn narcissistic that he actually *is* deluded/blinded, (as Caddell wrote) and that Obama really does believe his own spin, and in his invincibility. If this is the case, he will probably have a nervous breakdown when the HC bill *fails* to become wildly popular once it is passed, and the Dems are wiped from the congressional map for a decade or more.
Whatever is the truth of what’s driving him, the last year has demonstrated that he is not one of us.
elissa (1d8da9) — 3/11/2010 @ 10:09 pmElissa,
Instead of either/or, I think Obama is both an idealogue — as evidenced by his commitment to socialist goals during his first year in office and his history of socialist mentors and associates — and a narcissist who believes accomplishing a fundamental shift in how America works will not only result in his re-election but make him revered like FDR.
Further, although he realizes his decisions will hurt the Democratic Party, I believe Obama and his team are convinced his popularity can be recaptured in time for the 2012 elections. They may even see Bush as proof of that, believing that even unpopular Presidents will be re-elected if the campaign is good enough … and Obama and his staff are master campaigners.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/11/2010 @ 10:37 pmHe can’t be doing too bad. On the Gallup he is on track with saint reagan.
imdw (05d41e) — 3/12/2010 @ 5:10 am“accomplishing a fundamental shift in how America works will not only result in his re-election but make him revered like FDR”
Do you think that the GOP was concern trolling FDR and telling him he was sinking the democratic party all along the new deal?
imdw (cf562d) — 3/12/2010 @ 5:32 amimd-dumbass, no one cares for your lies. Obama is cementing a place for himself as the WORST president and administration ever!
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/12/2010 @ 5:55 amFor a juvenile, thin-skinned, unqualified, empty-suit, socialist, liar, Obama seems pretty mature and confident as a President. That’s why he started a war against Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, set up a White House tip line to report enemies, eyc. etc., all because he didn’t care what people were saying about him.
daleyrocks (718861) — 3/12/2010 @ 6:44 amI’m not sure Steve Bennen has written one, but it’s quite simple and might take all of two lines (maybe it’s brevity is why it’s unfit for a column?):
When President Bush spoke, people cringed (except you guys). It was not his best attribute as President
When Obama speaks, people are persuaded (except you guys). It’s why his poll numbers go up after he speaks (small bumps to be sure). Hell, his speaking is what launched his political career and won him the nomination. It is his strength.
Sure, I realize it leaves you guys cold, but why would he care about that. Obama was NEVER and will never get a Republican/conservative to support any major piece of his agenda (even when he advocates their position…for God’s sake, Tom “abortion doctors are murderers” Coburn will oppose pro-life amendments to the healthcare bill just to screw Obama).
In politics, you gots to play to your strength. George W was an image guy with a loyal cadre of supporters and was a genius at raising money. Obama is a genius at raising money and giving speeches. It’s why George W relied on Cheney, Addington, and a willing and able Congressional delegation and Obama relies on public speaking.
PS I take it back, it could be a column and DRJ, you send him the idea….I mean presuming you wanted that question answered.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 6:57 am18, timb, Obama, like you is an empty suit. If it weren’t for guilt ridden white professors giving him undeserved grades and guilty white Democrats exercising their racial demons, Obama would still be a street hustler. The man can’t give other than a canned speech played for him on a teleprompter.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:02 am–make him revered like FDR–
Well, good luck with that, Barack. The people in my family who were alive and adults during FDR’s time (as opposed to reading about him in history books) despised him until the days they died. They were willing to grant that at the end he showed some war leadership and supported him because he was president and because our country needed to prevail in WWII. But they were appalled by most of FDR’s domestic policies, his role in extending the Depression, and highly critical of his ongoing expansion of government.
And don’t even get me started when Obama tries to compare himself to Lincoln!!
elissa (1d8da9) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:09 amElissa, DJR,
Bill Kristol said during 1993 that if the Dems provide universal healthcare, then they would benefit immensely electorally and if Republicans defeat it, they would benefit electorally. We know he was half right (also, probably the last time he even that much right).
Polls differ, depending on how you want to look at it, but few Americans want healthcare to remain as it is (the last poll I heard on that question was 4% wanted it to remain unchanged).
If the democrats fail to enact healthcare, they will lose their base and they will get smoked this November. If they pass it, then they will lose seats but not Congress. Within five years that policy will be as popular as FRD’s.
Simple as that.
I have already informed the Senate candidate here in Indiana that his failure to vote for healthcare means he loses my vote. Democratic politicians everywhere will be swamped by the disinterest and contempt of their supporters and the anger and vitriol of their opponents. There is only one of those two things they can avoid and the only way to do it pass the bill.
Unsurprisingly, a pussy like Pat Caddell, a Republican who used to be a Democrat, wouldn’t see that. After all, he’s been providing solid electoral advice since he told Jimmy to give that malaise speech. Dude hasn’t supported a winner since 1976. The day I listen to a guy whose main gig is being the Wahington Generals to Sean Hannity is the day JD stops thinking calling Rachel a cow is funny, i.e. never.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:11 amProve any of that, jackass.
Obama went to Harvard Law. Did someone take his LSAT for him? Pcd, you couldn’t get into to Harvard law to clean the bathrooms, yet he received grades on anonymous tests (how law school tests are conducted) good enough to be selected to the Law Review.
Various news accounts from those around him report him writing many of his major addresses (unless you think Jon Favreau is JUST a genius). Furthermore, the man wrote two bestselling books.
On your side:
nothing.
Tell us why pcd you think “guilt ridden white professors” were responsible for his grades on anonymous and standardized tests? Explain how the word “white” slipped in there at all, because what I hear is one giant dog whistle, unbecoming of this site.
Damn, if that don’t represent the hard bigotry of low expectations, I don’t know what is. Surely, another commenter will correct you
…right?
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:21 amSee, timb, most sane people in either party don’t view *forcing* people to buy insurance through a federally enforced mandate to be, as you call it, “providing universal healthcare”. This bill will never be popular. Just stop.
elissa (1d8da9) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:24 amWanna bet?
Do most people like buying car insurance through a mandate? Do most Massachusetts people hate it? Those who have insurance will continue to have it and those who cannot get it will be able to get it. It will, like in every OTHER responsible country on Earth, be popular enough.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:31 am“Do most Massachusetts people hate it?”
Massachussets just elected a Romneycare supporter to the senate. So they can’t dislike it THAT much.
imdw (223a39) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:43 amYou do know that’s not an apt analogy, right?
The car insurance your state requires is not actually insurance on your car, it is liability. As a condition for the privilege of driving, you must show that you are financially capable of paying for damage you might cause in an accident. Health insurance is not liability insurance, so this analogy is not correct. Further, living is a right, not a privilege. You shouldn’t be required to purchase anything as a condition for living.
Some chump (050674) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:47 am22, timb from what are you referring to? ALL of Obama’s grades, College papers and dissertations, are as locked up as his original birth certificate. Now, care to prove anything you assert from anything other than your continual asspulls?
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/12/2010 @ 7:50 amObama went to Harvard Law. Did someone take his LSAT for him? Pcd, you couldn’t get into to Harvard law to clean the bathrooms, yet he received grades on anonymous tests (how law school tests are conducted) good enough to be selected to the Law Review.
Dennis the Peasant had the best assessment regarding timb’s pathetic little appeal to authority:
“When I look at the cream of the scum of government, the cream of the scum of the media, and the cream of the scum of Wall Street, what I see is the cream of the scum of Harvard’s (and the rest of the Ivy League’s) business majors and cream of the scum of Harvard’s (and the rest of the Ivy League’s) liberal arts majors. Does anyone really think a bunch of Ohio State or Texas Tech grads could screw things up to where they are now? Given the state of the federal government, main stream media and Wall Street, why the f*ck wouldn’t anyone in their right mind loathe the Ivy League?”
Various news accounts from those around him report him writing many of his major addresses (unless you think Jon Favreau is JUST a genius). Furthermore, the man wrote two bestselling books.
James Patterson has been on the NYT list 51 times. Glenn Beck’s had 4 books hit #1. Bragging about Obama’s publishing credentials is weak sauce, particularly since his scholarly publishing record is, shall we say, rather anemic.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 3/12/2010 @ 8:10 amDo most people like buying car insurance through a mandate?
Do most people buy car insurance to cover every single repair need?
Seriously, that’s the stupidest analogy your side has ever come up with, and that’s saying something.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 3/12/2010 @ 8:11 amIt is axiomatic that Obama’s college performance and grades must be worse than George W Bush’s. If they were better they would have been released long ago.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/12/2010 @ 8:31 amGrades…He probably didn’t even rate a “Gentleman’s C”!
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 11:46 am“…When Obama speaks, people are persuaded (except you guys). It’s why his poll numbers go up after he speaks…”
Laugh? I thought I’d never start!
Here’s another view of the impressive speaking skills, and persausiveness of The Obowman:
Since “…July… There has … been an inverse relationship between the number of times the president briefs the country and the public’s view of reform…” –
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:08 pmKim Strassel – Why Health Reform is Bad Politics, WSJ, 3/13/10
Sure, Ad, you’re right. No one thinks he’s an orator. It’s just me and “white professors” and will.i.am.
Secondly, you’re right. If a person is considered eloquent, then it follows he/she must be eloquent every time he/she speaks. Just like George bush spoke like a moron, but gave a wonderful speech to the nation after 9/11. My thinking that was a great speech must have been wrong, since W. wasn’t eloquent.
100% or 0% the simpleton’s way
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:19 pm33, Long way to say you can’t refute us, moron. Where’s Obama’s grades? Does he grade better than Bush? Than Kerry? Than Gore? Public records, twerp, only. No more asspulls from you.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:22 pmNot even a “Gentleman’s C”!
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:28 pmSo, you guys decided not only to not note pcd’s assumption that a black man needed help from white people to make it through college, but to support it.
And, people say commenters here aren’t fair.
For those who do not know, and well, that’s most people here, to get into law school you need take an anonymous exam called an LSAT. After being admitted, the students are graded anonymously. Even in pcd’s racist fetish of a dream where a vast conspiracy of affirmative action loving professors conspired to award this one African-American guy preferential treatment, how the f*ck did they do it when they graded his anonymous tests? And, how’s come the conservative lawyers he went to school aren’t blowing the whistle on this conspiracy to benefit a political opponent?
Lastly, Chris, hon, there’s a big difference between a Harvard degree (mighty prestigious) and a Harvard Law degree (massively prestigious, since it is one of the top five law schools in the country) and dennis, not being the brightest of sorts, is apparently unaware of it. Nonetheless, his assertions are not facts.
PS One last thing, chris, Beck used a ghostwriter, the President did not.
Seriously, you guys are arguing the black guy got where he did because he didn’t do it on his own and needed “white professors” to help him, despite the anonymity of law school entrance exam and tests and his election by his peers as editor of the Law Review? Weird, just freakin’ weird
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:31 pmHis peers staright up admit that he was elected to the Law Review simply because he was black and Harvard was having issues with its minority workers.
Have Blue (854a6e) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:40 pmpcd, you are fucking moron. Columbia and Harvard are private institutions. You have no more a right to see their records than I have to your medical records…and damn I’m betting that psychiatric history is long.
We’re done talking. You wishing me dead (twice!) was only half as annoying as throwing the same Free Republic talking points at me over and over and then appending jd’s vocab. Only jd is allowed to use those terms and that’s because I “know” him from way back. He’s a drooling moron by choice and, when he wants, can be literate and funny.
You are just a drooling moron. You go in the spqr bin as a jackass with a tempter problem.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:40 pmLove a link on Obama helped Harvard with its “minority workers.” have blue, you should apply to Harvard Law. It must be easy to get into.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 12:56 pmtimb,
I agree most successful applicants to Harvard Law School have impressive LSAT scores. The maximum LSAT on today’s test is 180 (in my day it was 800), and Harvard’s 25th-75th percentile range is 171-176. Impressive indeed, and I suspect the numbers were also impressive in the 1980’s when President Obama attended.
But not everyone has such impressive scores. The website Law School Numbers is considered a reliable source for law school data such as LSAT scores and last year’s graph shows two successful applicants (here and here) with LSATs of 167, a mediocre grade for top tier schools. Both describe themselves as minorities. Of course, they could be prank listings — it happens, although such listings are also easy to spot — but discrepancies in affirmative action admissions were common when I was in law school in the late 1970s and they still are today.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:18 pmI am gratified that the Party of Compassion and Diversity has such an eloquent spokesperson such as timb (and also imdw). He/They show(s) how far we have come from the backwoods, roughhewn, savagery that marked our beginnings.
And great thanks to pointing out to all of the Gentlemen of the Law (Esquire) that drop in on occasion of the requirement to take the LSAT for admission to Law School (though I might question if that is a universal requirement?).
But, aren’t LSAT scores generally public?
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:24 pmA bar of soap for timb’s mouth. Matches the vulgarity of the rest of his thought of course.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:26 pmLSAT scores aren’t public unless you publicize it yourself. I don’t think bar exam scores are public, either — just the fact that you’ve passed or not. When I took the bar exam, they never told you your score, only whether you passed or not, although the high scorer on each year’s Texas Bar exam was identified and received an award.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:27 pm“When Obama speaks, people are persuaded (except you guys). It’s why his poll numbers go up after he speaks (small bumps to be sure). Hell, his speaking is what launched his political career and won him the nomination. It is his strength.”
He’s articulate and he’s a campaigner. He is not a leader. When Bush spoke, he meant what he said and some – including me – appreciated that, especially after 8 long years of Clinton-Gore.
With Obama, most people have realized it’s a case of watch what he does… there’s a disconnect between words and actions.
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:32 pmNot to mention that the long-term trend is that the more Obama speaks, the less popular his proposals become.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:33 pmHas anyone ever thought to look through the IL Bar Exam lists to see which year B.H.Obama passed his Bar Exam? And, if or when he ceased being a member in good standing?
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:33 pm“as a jackass with a tempter(?) problem.”
paging Dr. Freud…
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:34 pm“I have already informed the Senate candidate here in Indiana that his failure to vote for healthcare means he loses my vote.”
Gee… I bet that just rocked his world, timmuh.
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:37 pmWhy do these legends-in-their-own-mind “progressive” types always have a need to portray their seedy little efforts as valiantly courageous?
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:40 pmDemocrats are caught like rats in a trap. If they pass ObamaCare the voters will slaughter them in November. If they abandon the legislation now, their own base will abandon them in revenge.
The only way out is to let the GOP prevent the Bill from coming up for a vote. That way Democrats don’t have to go on record in support of a Bill the voters detest, and Congressional Dems can say they gave it their all.
It ain’t pretty, and it ain’t perfect, but it’s the best Dems can do. They’re in a tight spot.
ropelight (1b4fe0) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:55 pmDJR, do you REALLY want to know what your bar score was?;)
Those two people got in with 167’s? That places them in the top 25% of test takers. Surely, only an empty suits could score in the top 25% of law school aspirants!
To the rest of you
This discussion embarrasses me for the site. The idea that the President is an idiot because people here don’t like him and readers think he hasn’t exactly been doing a gang-busters job is just crazy.
Smart people can be terrible Presidents (ask Jimmy Carter or Woodrow Wilson or Herbert Hoover, who reputation as a great man is almost forgotten today) and relative morons can be pretty damn good Presidents (see Chester Arthur, for a fine example). One can disagree with the President, and even loathe him, without displaying a bigot’s assumptions about his accomplishments.
I actually thought enough of some of the commenters here that one of them would take pcd to task for his “assumptions” about the President. To have most people come in and defend pcd is surprising?
Next time some leftie parachutes in here, brandishing your hated “r” word, you might want to consider that calling Obama an “affirmative action” recipient without evidence and despite his past successes might reveal something uncomfortable about your beliefs toward African Americans.
Then again, considering the audience, probably not.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 1:57 pmcorporal malaise, you are a fine addition to the thread.
As for Mr. Ellsworth, the latest poll showed him in a dead heat with Senator Coats. He ain’t gonna win a Republican vote in Indiana; so I’m thinking he might be interested in mine.
You probably know better, since the last time you voted for a Democrat was when Wallace was on the ballot.
timb (449046) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:01 pmLastly, Chris, hon, there’s a big difference between a Harvard degree (mighty prestigious) and a Harvard Law degree (massively prestigious, since it is one of the top five law schools in the country) and dennis, not being the brightest of sorts, is apparently unaware of it. Nonetheless, his assertions are not facts.
Which doesn’t refute his assertion in the slightest that the bulk of the people who got the country into the position its currently in (a position, btw, that has been about 35 years in the making and crosses all political boundaries) are the products of Ivy League training. I certainly don’t see you trying to refute that an Ohio State or Texas Tech grad could have done things any worse. Again, your silly little appeal to authority is irrelevant.
PS One last thing, chris, Beck used a ghostwriter, the President did not
One last thing, tim, Patterson didn’t use a ghostwriter either (although Kennedy certainly did).
Really, do you think anyone on this board gives a crap how many books Obama’s had published? We’re not exactly talking about The Naval War of 1812 in terms of accomplishment, here–they’re freakin’ autobiographies.
BFD. There’s a thousand biopics out there with the same theme as Obama’s–“Issues From My Daddy”–and quite a few of them are bestsellers. Obama’s no more accomplished in this arena than Chelsea Handler, but for you, it qualifies him as Presidential material.
“When Obama speaks, people are persuaded (except you guys). It’s why his poll numbers go up after he speaks (small bumps to be sure). Hell, his speaking is what launched his political career and won him the nomination. It is his strength.”
Too bad for him that being President involves a lot more than being able to speak well, as he’s finding out.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:06 pmOur president has a “prestigious” degree, therefore he is right in what he does? Aaack!!!
Bee Ho HAS to care about what people think — or, more specifically, about what they FEEL. The man elected by virtue of hopey-changey has no hope of re-election without having people feel good about him.
Icy Texan (b7d19b) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:08 pm“You probably know better, since the last time you voted for a Democrat was when Wallace was on the ballot”
Wrong, as usual, timmuh. Proud to write that I’ve never voted for a Democrat and, therefor, never had to say, “won’t get fooled again”.
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:09 pm“Too bad for him that being President involves a lot more than being able to speak well, as he’s finding out.”
Spot on, Another Chris.
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:12 pmI actually thought enough of some of the commenters here that one of them would take pcd to task for his “assumptions” about the President. To have most people come in and defend pcd is surprising?
Stop being such a drama queen.
Next time some leftie parachutes in here, brandishing your hated “r” word, you might want to consider that calling Obama an “affirmative action” recipient without evidence and despite his past successes might reveal something uncomfortable about your beliefs toward African Americans.
I’ll take their assessments about as seriously as I take yours, tim. Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less if you or any other lefty thinks I’m racist. That’s their problem, not mine.
Whether Obama was an “affirmative action” beneficiary or not is completely irrelevant to me. I recognized a long time ago that he was a glorified ward heeler with a big mouth and little backbone–and his race has nothing to do with it. They’re simply defects of his individual personality that are now hampering his ability to get much accomplished in relation to what he projected as a celebrity Presidential candidate. The problem with letting people treat you like a god is that sometimes you’re obliged to live up to it.
Another Chris (2d8013) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:22 pmtimb sure calls people bigots and racists awfully easy.
But then, vulgarity is his key attribute.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:26 pm“timb sure calls people bigots and racists awfully easy.”
That’s timmuh’s version of dropping his weapon, hands-in-the-air.
GeneralMalaise (d63092) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:39 pmSPQR said timb sure calls people bigots and racists awfully easy.
He also likes to spout off over at Sadly No about how he tries to reason with us over at PP but we’re for the most part a completely unreasonable lot.
John Hitchcock (be23b3) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:53 pmJust a bunch of Bitter Clingers!
AD - RtR/OS! (597a8f) — 3/12/2010 @ 2:59 pmWell, John, timb’s estrangement from both truthfulness and reality has long been noted.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 3:00 pm[…] that infamous “Chicago Squeeze” to get what he wants out of Congress on ObamaCare, the voting public be damned… and THEN fly out on his transcontinental trip (which looks suspiciously more like a […]
Gee, What a Great Guy… Obama Delays Next Week’s Trip to Indonesia, Guam, Australia to Put the “Chicago Squeeze” on Congress for Despised Health Care « Frugal Café Blog Zone (a66042) — 3/12/2010 @ 3:01 pmThe CBO’s numbers are BS – the CBO itself has signaled that clearly enough = so these Democrats are about to destroy our nation’s finances permanently.
And they simply do not care.
This is unprecedented arrogance at the core of the Democratic party and evidently no one in the party has the courage to shout ‘halt’.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 4:50 pmIt is sounding more and more as if the Light Brigade is charging across the field.
To heck with the Waterloo analogies, this faux healthcare bill sounds more like Democrats’ Battle of Balaclava.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/12/2010 @ 5:43 pmI’d love to see real info on that Giannoulias fund-raiser flop. My google search didn’t show it but it did show PuffHo claiming he’s doing great. I wonder if that “Put a Progressive in the Obama seat” idea works in the Land’o’Lincoln. Or if it works this time.
John Hitchcock (be23b3) — 3/12/2010 @ 6:39 pmThe Crystal Ball shows that seat as a toss-up, and it seems to me the Crystal Ball prefers to be careful not to wrongly call seat-changes in the GOP favor (or likely in any favor).
John Hitchcock (be23b3) — 3/12/2010 @ 6:43 pmYeah, that is weird on my part. What’s not weird is some jackass saying the President of the United States needed white people’s help to accomplish anything!
Also perfectly normal is saying without the undeserved help of white people, a graduate of two Ivy league schools, a lecturer on Con Law, and an author of 2 books would be a “street hustler,” a term, of course, which has absolutely no racial connotations.
Lastly, perfectly normal is defending a commenter who is, at best, at a right angle to reality and who writes the following pablum:
When it is a well-known fact Obama wrote the speech which launched his political career (at the 2004 Convention) and the “racism” speech which saved it. His last sentence is less offensive than the earlier ones, but only because it it completely untrue.
So, John, in summary, what’s weird is you are having a conversation with a person who doesn’t believe smoking causes cancer about another dude who just said a black man couldn’t achieve anything without white people and you think it’s just so strange that I consider most of you unreasonable?
Yeah, where would I get that idea? I respond to DJR and I get a rabid incoherent response which is not only racially insensitive, but demonstrably untrue, and it’s soooo strange I think the people who defend the lunatic’s lunacy are unreasonable. Just weird.
Why don’t you go back to SN and explain it all, John?
timb (449046) — 3/15/2010 @ 12:41 pm